ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

by Siddique Islam | Dhaka - Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary will hold talks with his Burmese counterpart on Thursday on the ongoing oil-and-gas exploration in the disputed waters of the Bay of Bengal by Burma.

"The Foreign Secretary is currently in Burma, for talks with the Burmese authorities to resolve the dispute over the demarcation of maritime boundaries," a senior official from the foreign ministry told Mizzima News in Dhaka this evening.

Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain will lead a three-member high-level delegation at the meeting. Two other members of the Bangladeshi delegation are Maritime Expert Commodore (retd) M Khurshed Alam and Commodore Md Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan of the Bangladesh Navy.

Meanwhile, Foreign Advisor of Bangladesh Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and Chinese Ambassador Zheng Qingdian on Wednesday discussed the current imbroglio between Bangladesh and Burma regarding the exploration in the Bay of Bengal.

"I have explained our peaceful intentions to our Chinese counterpart and expressed the hope that Myanmar will dismantle the installations on the disputed waters," the foreign advisor of the caretaker government said.

He issued the statement in response to a question after the meeting that took place when the Chinese envoy called on Dr Chowdhury at the Foreign Ministry today.

Last week, Burma had initiated oil and gas explorations in the disputed offshore gas blocks, about 60 nautical miles off Bangladesh's Saint Martin's island.

Burma's ambassador to Bangladesh Phae Thann Oo has been summoned twice this week to the Foreign Ministry and conveyed Bangladesh's stand on the matter.